


you'll always sound precocious

by Squiped_Mew



Series: The Tales of Team OMEN (in anachronic order) [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Con Artists, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Neopolitan (RWBY), Hotels, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Introspection, Neo POV, Neopolitan Backstory, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vale (RWBY), Whitley Schnee is a little shit, i came up with it myself!, omen au, selectively mute neopolitan, villain AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiped_Mew/pseuds/Squiped_Mew
Summary: “Hold on -” Emerald interjected, Neo’s head whipping back and forth between the three of them like it was some kind of fascinating tennis match. “If we want to get a ticket to Vacuo around here, we probably shouldn’t be spending any money. We have what, three hundred lien between the four of us?”“How do three international criminals not have more than three hundred lien between them?” Oscar exclaimed.“The economy is in shambles.” Mercury replied with a smirk.(OR: Team OMEN, fresh out of their escape from Salem and jail, attempt to get money the only way they know how - tricking people. And by people, they mean Whitley Schnee.)
Relationships: Emerald Sustrai & Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai & Oscar Pine, Mercury Black & Neopolitan, Mercury Black & Oscar Pine, Neopolitan & Emerald Sustrai, Neopolitan & Oscar Pine, Neopolitan & Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan & Whitley Schnee
Series: The Tales of Team OMEN (in anachronic order) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938709
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so my selectively mute Neo headcannon came from when CRWBY talked about how Neo was gonna have a VA, but then never did, so that's kind of what I'm going off of. Also, I made up a whole backstory for her, which is probably going to be excravated in V8 so like, have fun while it lasts!
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/

_ Inhale.  _

_ Exhale.  _

  
  


_ She was staring at herself in the mirror, moving her mouth. Nothing was coming out, of course, but it was still strange to see her mouth moving for once. _

_ A sound bubbled up in the back of her throat, like a lump screaming to get out.  _

_ She opened her mouth to speak - _

  
  


_ “Mary?” _

_ The door opened, Mother standing behind her. Her mouth clamped shut.  _

_ “Why on earth are you in my powder room? We have guests over!” _

  
  


_ Because there isn't a mirror in my room , she wanted to say. But the bubble in the back of her throat was gone, scared off by the door.  _

_ Mother grabs her wrist. “Back upstairs with you,” She scolded, overly penciled eyebrows crinkling with annoyance. “I don’t want to see your face for the rest of the night.” _

_ While she was going up the stairs, she heard her other siblings down in the guest room, laughing with Mother’s guests.  _

_ Talking. _

  
  


_ Why was she the only one who couldn’t? _

_ What was wrong with her? _

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Neo.”

  
  


Neapolitan opened her eyes, back aching from the hard fake leather of the truck they had been riding in for the past week or so. Streetlight flooded the inside of the car, breaking through the black, and Neo instantly recognized the blue light. 

_ Are we in Vale? _ She signed, sitting up and brushing the sleep out of her eyes. 

“It’d seem that way.” Emerald responded, leaning back into the driver’s seat. “At least, we’re in the outskirts. I sent Mercury and Oscar to get directions.”

_ Why Mercury?  _ Neo asked.  _ Out of all of us, he’s the last person I’d send to negotiate with someone.  _

“Well, it was more of an insurance thing.” Emerald remarked wryly, a dry smile on her face. “Just in case the guy Oscar asked tried to mug him or something.”

“Hey, have a bit more faith in me.” Turning, the two of them saw Oscar and Mercury, climbing back into the car. “I can take care of myself.” Oscar huffed, crossing his arms. Emerald held her arms up in mock surrender, and Oscar rolled his eyes, sliding back into the backseat of the car. 

“The guy said we’d probably be able to find boarding three blocks down, on Pallet Lane.” Mercury interjected, propping his metal legs up on the dash of the car. “I dunno how good it’ll be, though, he seemed pretty icked when we asked if it was open. You'd think the hotel's manager pissed on his wife or something, that's how grossed out he was."

“I don't care as long as it’s not the car.” Oscar sighed, rubbing his temples. “Come on.”

“Hold on -” Emerald interjected, Neo’s head whipping back and forth between the three of them like it was some kind of fascinating tennis match. “If we want to get a ticket to Vacuo around here, we probably shouldn’t be spending any money. We have what, three hundred lien between the four of us?”

“How do three international criminals not have more than three hundred lien between them?” Oscar exclaimed. 

“The economy is in shambles.” Mercury replied with a smirk. 

Oscar rolled his eyes. “....Whatever, we can spare a few lien.”

“We actually can’t. Not if we want to get to Vacuo by next month.” Emerald remarked. “I say it’s best if we just sleep in the car.” 

_ I don’t want to sleep in the car! _ Neo signed, but no one noticed. 

“My back is going to break if I have to do that again.” Oscar rebutted. 

“Sorry that your spine is made of feathers farm boy, but them's the breaks.” Mercury butted in. 

Neo clapped twice and everyone turned to look at her _. I. Don’t. Want. To. Sleep in the car! _ She signed again, as intensely as she could. 

Everyone looked at each other. 

“Well - it seems it’s pretty fifty-fifty.” Mercury said. 

“Duh.” Emerald replied, which earned her a look. 

“Okay… why not do rock paper scissors?” Oscar pointed out, holding out his fist.

The three of them stared at him. 

“...What the hell is rock paper scissors?” Mercury finally asked. 

“D - do none of you know what that is?” Oscar exclaimed disbelievingly. When they all shook his head, he sighed. “O - okay, well, rock paper scissors is kinda like flipping a coin, except it’s with three sides instead of two and each side beats another one?”

  
  


So he taught them how to play.

  
  


Oscar won.

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  


“That guy wasn’t kidding, this place is dirtier than the back of a baboon’s asshole.” Mercury said, placing his tiny backpack down on the dirty wooden floor. The room was small, with no bathroom or kitchen, just a single dirty bed one one side of the room with a rickety stand next to it, with a lamp that didn’t work. It was, without a doubt, the dirtiest hotel room Neo had ever seen. And she had seen quite a few.

“Well, it’s all we’ve got right now.” Oscar retorted. “Frankly, I’m just happy to not be in the car.”

“Well genius, there’s only  _ one  _ bed.” Emerald pointed out. “Which means either two of us share the tiny bed, or three of us sleep on the floor.”

  
  


There was a pause, each of them looking at each other.

  
  


“You can take it.” Everyone said at the same time, except for Neo, who just took a step back. 

“No!” Emerald said, backing up. “I slept in an alleyway for years, I’m used to the floor!”

“ _ I’m _ used to the floor, you can sleep on the bed!” Mercury retorted. “Besides, you were the one driving the car. You earned it.”

“Earned it -?!” Considering the bed was one of the most disgusting things Neo had ever seen, that implied that Emerald did more of a bad job than good. “And besides, what about Oscar? He was the one complaining about his back!”

“My back might feel better, but my stomach certainly wouldn’t.” Oscar mumbled, looking away. “What about you, Neo?”

_ I have standards.  _ She deadpanned. 

“God, you people are such pillow princesses!” Mercury remarked. 

“...Merc, that’s not what the phrase means.” Emerald muttered. 

“Well what  _ does  _ it mean then?”

“Okaaay!” Oscar interjected, quickly shutting down that train of conversation. “If no one wants to take the bed, then why don’t we all just sleep on the floor?”

_ “ _ **Then what was the point of getting the hotel room in the first place?!”** Emerald and Mercury shouted.

  
  
  
  


* * *

In the end, Mercury ended up taking the bed, as he was the least repulsed about the dirty and stained state of it. “Just spray some cleaner on it, and it’ll be good as new.” He had said. 

It was, in fact, not good as new. The bed now smelled like filth and disgustingly artificial bubble bath.

Despite all this, the four of them had all found a spot on the floor, and were all now trying to sleep. 

  
  


Key word being ‘try.’

  
  
  
  
  


After fifteen minutes of thick awkward silence, Emerald finally broke through the quiet. “...I can’t sleep.” She mumbled, eyes bloodshot. 

  
  


Everyone else grumbled out various agreements. 

_ Good lord, would it have killed them to put some ventilation in here? _ Neo remarked, sitting up _. It smells like Cinder’s attitude.  _

That got a chuckle out of Mercury, and maybe one out of Oscar, though his noise was too quiet to tell if it was one of laughter or a ‘shut the fuck up’ noise.

Emerald stood, stretching. “That’s it.” She said. “I’m going on a walk.”

“Where?” Oscar asked. 

“The roofs.” Emerald replied, opening the windows. “The rooftops in Vale are pretty flat, and there’s good access to them from this building.”

Oscar frowned. “But isn’t that -”

“Relax.” Emerald rebutted. “Back when I was here, I used to scale the rooftops all the time. It’s kind of my thing.”

_ Can I come with?  _ Neo asked, surprising everyone.

“...I mean, you sure?” Emerald asked, pulling on a pair of beat-up sneakers. “You don’t exactly strike me as a parkour type person.”

_ I’m full of surprises. _ Neo remarked, standing and stretching.  _ Besides, it’s a pretty nice night.  _

“Okay then.” Emerald turned to Mercury and Oscar. “The rest of you wanna come with, or…?” 

“No thanks.” Mercury replied. “My legs are probably too heavy for some of the roofs. I don’t wanna start someone’s day off with some beat up teenager crashing through their roof.”

“Fair.” Emerald turned to Oscar. “What about you?” She asked.

  
  


“...I’mafriadofhieghts.”

“...Sorry? Didn’t quite catch that.” 

“I  _ said,  _ I’m afraid of heights!” Oscar retorted, face red. “And climbing on roofs doesn’t seem like the best way to alleviate that, thank you very much!”

Neo looked at Emerald, who then looked back at Oscar.  _ You can sword fight four people at once, but you can’t stand being more than four feet off the ground?  _ Neo remarked. 

“...Shut up.” Oscar muttered. 

“Nah, it’s cool.” Emerald replied offhandedly. “I mean, I’ve faced down the queen of darkness herself and I’m still afraid of spiders. I guess it’s caveman brain or whatever talking.”

“...Cool.” Oscar replied. “Can you guys go now, I’m tired.”

“Sure.” And with that, Emerald and Neo slid onto the fire escape, and pulled themselves up onto the rooftops above. 

* * *

The night was clear, with more stars than the usual four being visible. The moon shone a dim white, bathing the rooftops in a stark white. Neo inhaled the smoky city air, smelling cigarette smoke and cardboard. 

Ah, she had missed Vale. 

  
  


She snapped to indicate that she had something to say, and Emerald turned. _ I just realized I didn’t even put my hat on. _ Neo remarked. _ And my hair’s a mess. I’m not even wearing sleeping clothes.  _

“Eh, it’s cool.” Emerald replied, looking just as worn out as Neo felt. “Worst comes to worst, people will just assume we’re two fashionably dressed hobos.”

_ Isn’t that what we are, though? _

“Shut it, Politain.” 

Neo barked a silent laugh, sitting down on the roof, ignoring how cold her butt was gonna be when she stood back up. Emerald did the same, pulling her legs flush to her chest.

  
  


They were silent for a minute, simply watching the people file down the streets in the dim moonlight.

  
  
  


“...It’s a nice night.” Emerald finally said. 

Neo nodded. 

  


Another minute of silence, but it was significantly more awkward then before. Despite the two of them both working under Cinder, Neo had never really talked too much to Emerald (or anyone for that matter). Until this whole ‘escape from Salem and then jail’ thing, Neo hadn’t really talked to anyone, not in any significant way. Not since… well, not since The Fall.

  
  


“Hey.” Neo turned to look at Emerald, who was staring out into the streets. “Your name isn’t like - actually Neopolitan, right? Like, who would name their kid that?” Neo gave Emerald a sideline glare, and Emerald scratched the back of her head nervously. “Sore subject, huh?”

_ I think you of all people would get the whole ‘no talking about our past’ rule we came up with.  _ Neo signed, putting as much sass as she could into her hand gestures. 

“I wasn’t asking about that or whatever, I was just kinda curious if Neopolitan was your actual name or not.” Emerald retorted. “Because if it is, I’d love to know what the hell your parents were thinking.”

  
  


A pause. 

  
  


_ It’s… a nickname of sorts. _ Neo confessed finally, not looking at Emerald’s face.  _ I came up with it when I was young. _

“Ooooh, like how I used to call Mercury wolfboy?” When Neo raised an eyebrow quizzically, Emerald laughed awkwardly. “Long story. But that’s cool, that’s cool. Makes a lot more sense then your parents naming you that.”

_ Yeah, I guess. _ Neo replied, letting her head loll back a bit.  _ If that had been the case I think baby me’s first words would have been ‘you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’ _

“Yeah, a swear for a first sentence would have been funny.” Emerald laughed. “Did Mercury ever tell you that the first word he said was ‘die’?”

_ You’re joking.  _

“I’m actually not. Although he might have been saying ‘dad’ but it just came out wrong?”

_ The first interpretation is so much more Mercury. _

“Fair.”

  
  


The two of them lapsed into a more comfortable silence. 

  
  


Neo finally spoke up, rapping her knuckles against the roof to get Emerald’s attention.  _ Hey,  _ She signed.  _ Do you think that we really would have stayed away from Salem if we decided to go through with our original plan instead of trying to go to Vacuo? _

There was a pause, atmosphere switching from calm and carefree to something decidedly more serious. 

Emerald sighed, leaning back. “...No.” She finally admitted. “I mean - I’d _like_ to think that we could just escape to the country and forget about all this… but well - look at us.”

_ We’ve got too much at stake _ . Neo remarked.  _ Not to mention Salem would never let us just quietly retire.  _

“It’s not  _ just  _ that - speaking personally?” Emerald responded, tone shifting from critical to… almost sad. “I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t at least try to stop Salem. I mean, sure, the world is full of assholes - but I’m also one of them, y’know? I live here.”

_ Yeah. _ Neo responded. 

“I just - it feels too soon to give in, and I bet if I asked the others, they’d feel the same way. Even Mercury - even you.” Emerald paused, before looking at Neo. “Actually - do you feel the same way?”

_ Kinda.  _ Neo replied.  _ I mostly just want to cave Salem’s tits in for what she did to Roman. _

“That’s pretty violent.” 

_ I’m a violent person.  _

“Yeah, you’ve made that clear.” Another pause, before Emerald exhaled heavily. “Sorry - I don’t know why I’m rambling to YOU of all people, you have the emotional capacity of a brick.”

_...That’s not true.  _ Neo signed weakly.

Emerald snorted. “Hey, that's not a jab at you, I just know you're not really a touchy-feely kind of person. Then again, I don’t think any of us are.” 

_ I dunno, Oscar seems like he might know more about this then you do. _

“Are you kidding? That guy’s emotional stability is the equivalent of Beacon’s CCT tower.” 

They both snorted, before they realized what they were laughing about, and quickly sobered up. 

  
  
  


“...Sorry.” Emerald mumbled. “Bad joke.”

_ I thought it was kind of funny.  _ But considering where they were, it really wasn’t.

  
  


Silence.

  
  


“Feels weird to be back.” Emerald remarked. “Not to mention the city looks a lot different.”

_ A lot of destroyed buildings.  _ Neo replied.

  
  


Another pause, one in which Emerald inhaled sharply.

  
  


“...We did this.” She finally admitted.

  
  


Neo looked out over the streets, the imperfections and dilapidations becoming more and more apparent the longer she looked. Cracks and scorch marks littered the walls, and it looked like you couldn’t walk a few feet without tripping over an out of place cobblestone or pothole in the road. 

  
  


Vale was the same. And yet, it was so different.

  
  
  


_ Yeah. _ Neo signed.  _ We did.  _

  
  
  
  


Neither of them said anything after that. 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “On it,” Mercury felt up the wall until he touched a lever. “Here it is.” The fluorescents above them weakly flickered to life, and, despite the dank and dark room, Neo felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her as the contents of the room were revealed. 
> 
> The stacks of boxes, Dust inside them pulsating faintly, the chairs thrown to the side of the room, the battered wooden table, and of course, the map of Vale tacked up to the wall, key districts and marks circled in bright red marker. On the margins, there was some scrawled handwriting. 
> 
> Roman’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for some minor ableism. It's not very prevalent, but it's there.
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/

_The room she’s sitting in is cold. The bright blue paint is peeling off of the walls, she notices. Despite the cheery nature of the decorations, it feels fake, and the fluorescent lights hurt her eyes._

_Behind the door in front of her, she can hear arguing, although it's mostly her mother shouting. Something about this being ridiculous - and that there had to be something he could do._

_  
__About her._

  
  


_She picks up the block that was in the corner of the room, probably thrown there by someone younger than her. Setting it on the table, she briefly wonders if there were anymore, and if maybe she could build a tower out of the blocks while her mom and the doctor talked. Ten might be a little old to do that, but she’s bored._

_When she looks back at the block, she blinks, as a tower of blocks seems to have just appeared out of nowhere in front of her. She rubs her eyes, but they’re still there._

_She opens her mouth to ask who’s doing this, but as usual, nothing comes out._

_So she pokes the tower of blocks, and like cracked glass, it shatters into a million pieces, reflecting pink light that she could not see. Now, only the block she had found was left on the table, and she picks it up, frowning._

_Had she… done that?_

  
  
  


_Just then, mother bursts out of the doctor’s office, face red and eyes cold, stomping back over to where Mary sits. “You’re useless!” Mother yells back to the doctor, before grabbing her roughly by the arm and yanking her up. “Come on Mary, let’s go.”_

_She points to the block she had placed on the table, frantically trying to communicate what she had just done, but her mother doesn’t notice, yanking her out the door._

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Dim sunlight filtered in through the tattered curtains, and Neo slowly opened her eyes, blinking in the morning sun. Around her, the other three were all in various states of waking up, and Mercury pulled the dirty covers over his head, groaning. 

“Close th’ window…” He slurred, still half asleep. 

“Come on, get up.” Emerald remarked, trying to drag Mercury out of bed, but only being able to move him about an inch. “Gods, why are - you so - heavy?!”

“Metal legs, remember?” Mercury muttered, sitting up, spiky hair sticking out in every direction. “And I’m up, let go of me. You’re gonna rip my arm out of my socket.”

Emerald scoffed. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Do I want to know?” Oscar asked, pulling his coat on. 

“Maybe not.”

_My back is killing me_ , Neo signed, rapping her knuckles against the floor to get everyone’s attention. _So much for the hotel fixing that._

“Hey, you guys all chose to sleep on the floor.” Mercury snarked, attempting to comb down the rats nest that was his hair with his fingers, before sighing and giving up. “So you have no right to complain.”

_That bed looks like it has lice_ . Neo retorted. _No thank you._

“Bed’s a bed in my book!”

“Okay,” Oscar said, cutting them off. “So what’s the plan?”

“Uhhh…” The three of them all trailed off into silence, Neo picking at the gunk under her nails. “I got nothing.” Mercury finally said, shrugging. 

“Same here.” Emerald mumbled. 

Everyone looked at Oscar.

“Hey, I’m just as stumped as you are about our money problem!” He exclaimed. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me for answers.”

“I dunno, you usually know what to do?” Mercury replied.

Oscar rolled his eyes, standing up. “Well, the best I can come up with is ‘get a job’ and I don’t think we have time to be doing that.”

“Plus, that sounds boring as dirt.” Emerald interjected. “And I’ve never worked an honest day in my life, and I’m sure as hell not gonna start now.”

“Ditto.” Mercury replied, and he and Emerald high-fived, while Oscar planted his face in his hands. 

  
  


Neo, however, was starting to get an idea, standing up and starting to pace. 

“Uh, what are you -” Mercury started, but was cut off by her holding a hand up to shush him. 

  
  


_Okay - so stealing is out of the question because that would be too inconspicuous,_ Neo thought to herself, _Also Oscar’s got a moral hangup over that or something. Option two would be to hitchhike, but that would leave us with no money in Vacuo, which we probably shouldn’t do._ Turning on her heel, Neo scrunched up her brow in deep thought.

“Scheming face?” Mercury asked. 

“Definitely scheming face.” Oscar replied. 

  
  


Neo opted not to flip them off, instead flashing back to what Oscar had said about ‘getting a job.’ _That wouldn’t work, as it would take us a while to get enough money. However, there might be some merit to the idea… some kind of a quick sale that would earn us a lot of money. But what kind of…_

Neo flashed back to her first time in Vale, when she and Roman had been hired by some mysterious benefactor to steal all the Dust around town, Dust that Cinder had never ended up really needing, as it was only to freak everyone out, (which would have been nice to know beforehand, but since when was Cinder ever helpful and informative). And what had they done with all the Dust?

  
  


_Guys,_ Neo signed, a grin spreading across her face. _I have an idea._

“Is it legal?” Oscar asked. 

_...Yes and no._ Neo replied. 

Oscar paused for a minute, then shrugged. “Eh, good enough.”

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

The walk to the warehouse wasn’t too far, as the red light district in Vale was a good place to hide stolen goods, especially in one of its many abandoned warehouses that littered the streets almost as much as the trash and cigarette butts people threw aside. 

“And you’re sure it’s all still there?” Emerald asked. 

_Positive._ Neo replied. _No one would even think about touching this stash if they knew it belonged to Roman Torchwick._

“But…” Oscar trailed off, realizing that what he was about to say wasn’t exactly going to help matters. “Nevermind.”

  
  


Sliding through back alleyways, the four of them arrived. The warehouse looked just as rundown as when they left it, if not even more so. There was a visible burn mark on the thin steel side, and Neo silently thanked the gods for not having this place blow up when Beacon fell, as any stray bullet or Grimm would have easily leveled this entire block. 

“Wow.” Mercury remarked. “It looks just as bad as when we left it.”

“I think it’s kinda charming.” Emerald joked, which earned her an annoyed nudge on the shoulder. 

“So this is where the Vale gangs all met up…” Oscar whispered, more to himself than anyone else. “Not really what I expected.”

“What did you expect, some kind of evil fortress with fire and like, a moat?” Mercury snarked, Oscar rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Welcome to the world of crime, little man. It’s a lot less glamorous than you’d think.” 

“I was already in it but like okay,” Summoning a red ball of energy, the three of them stood back as Oscar shot it forward, blowing open the locked door. 

  
  


“You know,” Emerald remarked, walking over the debris, “I could have easily just shot the lock open.”

“The doors didn’t look safe anyways.” Oscar mumbled, but picked the charred door up nonetheless and attempted to set it back in the doorway. 

_Leave it, we’ll get a new one._ Neo signed, stepping into the dark warehouse. _There’s gotta be a light switch around here somewhere._

“On it,” Mercury felt up the wall until he touched a lever. “Here it is.” The fluorescents above them weakly flickered to life, and, despite the dank and dark room, Neo felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her as the contents of the room were revealed. 

The stacks of boxes, Dust inside them pulsating faintly, the chairs thrown to the side of the room, the battered wooden table, and of course, the map of Vale tacked up to the wall, key districts and marks circled in bright red marker. On the margins, there was some scrawled handwriting. 

Roman’s.

  
  


Neo slowly walked up to the map, hand briefly tugging on the rim of her - his - bowler hat. The writing was hardly even legible, but she could make out the words of some of them. 

_‘This place is run by an old guy’_ Next to fifth street, 

_‘Stay away from here, or Yaga will have your hide’_ Next to Azure boulevard, 

_‘Red’s seen frequenting here,’_ on Twelfth. Below it was a crude doodle of Ruby Rose, and below it was the words; _‘doesn’t it look just like her? :p’_ in a different handwriting. 

Her handwriting.

  
  


_“Don’t be stupid Neo,” Roman had laughed, pointing at her drawing. “You didn’t make her look nearly obnoxious enough.” Neo had stuck out her tongue, using her semblance to transform into Ruby for a brief moment. He had grumbled, rolling his eyes, but there was affection in his tone._

_It had been a good day, a week before the fall of Beacon._

  
  


“...Neo?” Someone tapped her shoulder, and Neo jolted back to reality. “You… good?” Emerald asked. 

Neo paused, fingers frozen in a gesture that she wasn’t quite sure of, the sign equivalent of stuttering. _...Yeah,_ she finally signed. _I’m good, just remembering stuff._

“Oh.” No one said anything, even though they all knew what she was thinking about. But they had made a rule not to talk about their pasts, and Neo wasn’t about to break it in order to throw a pity party for herself. She was supposed to be the adult here. 

_Anyways,_ Neo signed, back to business, _I have a plan._

“Clearly it involves all this Dust here,” Mercury remarked, leaning against one of the dusty wooden crates. “Mind telling us what exactly is your master plan?”

_Well_ , Neo started, yanking Mercury off the crates so he wouldn’t accidentally set them all off, _We need money fast, yeah?_

The three of them nodded. 

_And we don’t have the time to slowly get money by working, right?_

  
  


Another nod. 

  
  


_Soooo,_ Neo pointed to the mountain of crates behind them. _We sell a bunch of these crates all at once!_

“...Huh?” Oscar said, tilting his head quizzically. “What do you mean?”

_We sell the Dust we have here._

“No, I heard you, I just -” Oscar opened one of the crates, to reveal pristine, if not a bit dusty, clean cut Dust crystals. “Are these real?”

“Man, you were really out of the loop back then, huh?” Emerald remarked. 

“Excuse me if I was living out in the boonies. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“Yeah, this is all real.” Emerald said, looking proud of herself. “One hundred percent authentic Dust. Albeit stolen, but still.”

“And we’re gonna try and sell it to someone?” Mercury piped up. 

_That’s the plan._ Neo replied. 

“But… who here would even accept all this?” Oscar butted in. 

“We’re not gonna sell it all at once, that’s waaaaay too obvious.” Emerald said, pulling out her scroll. “Probably just enough crates to net us, let’s say, two hundred and fifty thousand lien.”

“That’s… a lot.” Mercury pointed out. “And who would even pay something like that upfront? It’s not exactly like we can accept credit right now.” 

“Actually Merc, I know exactly who.” Emerald smugly replied, holding up her scroll proudly. “The head office of the Vale district of the Schnee Dust Company is pretty close to here. And I bet they’d be thrilled to get some of their Dust back.”

“...You mean to tell me that we’re going to sell the Dust that _you guys_ stole, back to the people who we stole it from?” Oscar exclaimed. 

_That’s the plan_ . Neo replied. _You catch on fast, Emerald._

“Thanks.” Emerald replied, before turning back to Oscar. “Besides, all the Dust has already been repackaged. They’ll never even know it was theirs!”

“And what if they do?” Oscar replied. 

_By that time, we’ll be on a ship heading straight to Vacuo._ Neo finished. _So they’ll never even know until we’re gone._

Oscar looked apprehensive, but after a minute of deliberation, sighed. “Well, I don’t have any better ideas,” He admitted. 

“I knew you’d come around.” Emerald snarked. Oscar rolled his eyes. “Anyways, if we hurry we can get there before noon. Neo, what kind of disguises should we use?”

Neo pursed her lips, thinking, before waving her hand and transforming herself into a stately looking saleswoman, pantsuit and all. 

“Sick!” Mercury remarked, standing up and stretching. “You think you can hold it for all four of us?”

_Please,_ Neo smugly signed. _I camouflaged an airship for three days straight, I can handle your puny asses._

“Rude.” Emerald retorted, crossing her arms. “Besides, everyone knows I have the biggest ass in the room.” 

“Stop talking about your butt.” Oscar grumbled, shuffling across the room and pulling out a cart, like one of the ones you’d see in a furniture store. “This looks good. How many crates should I put on here anyways?”

“Twelve oughta do it.” Mercury remarked offhandedly. The other three nodded, and got to work loading up the lift. “So are we just gonna walk or…?”

“We could take a taxi.” Emerald huffed, placing a crate softly down on the lift. “I mean, walking up with a lift full of Dust crates will definitely make us look suspicious.” 

“Fair.” Setting a Dust cart down with a loud ‘oouf’, Mercury straightened up, pulling out his scroll to look for taxis. “You guys finish up, I'll go get our lift.”

“That’s just an excuse for you not to help out!” Oscar shouted after Mercury, who had walked outside. “Lazy ass.” He grumbled to himself. 

Emerald laughed, picking up another crate. “Eh, we’re not losing much arm strength anyways. I mean, have you seen his arms? They’re sticks.”

_Almost as skinny as yours, Oscar._ Neo pointed. 

“Hey, we can’t all be ripped. Besides, I’m the magic guy. That’s not in the prerequisite.” 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Vale’s Schnee Dust Company headquarters was just as tall and imposing as the building in Atlas, if not more so. Neo remembered passing it almost every day on her walks home from school - but that wasn’t important right now. 

“I think a mausoleum would look more inviting than this joint.” Mercury remarked, he and Neo decked on in their bodyguard disguises. 

“Yeah, I’m inclined to agree with you.” Emerald replied, she and Oscar in their business people disguises. Despite knowing that this wasn’t what she really looked like, Neo couldn’t help but get a sense of vertigo every time she looked down at her feet and saw shoes that were three sizes bigger than her usual heeled boots. She reached up to tug at her hat, but stopped, knowing that if she moved an inch out of place, the whole illusion would shatter entirely. 

  
  


The lobby was sleek and white, the seats lined across the walls square and hard, looking very uncomfortable to sit in. The receptionist, a humorless looking lady with a messy bun and glasses, hardly even looked up from her computer. “Can I help you?” She droned. 

“Yes, actually.” Emerald replied, laying her ‘kindly woman’ voice on so thick, Neo nearly gagged. “We’d like to make a sale, actually.” 

That caused the receptionist to look up, giving Emerald a dry look. “The Schnee Dust Company does not accept in-house sales.” She replied, as if reciting a line from a book. 

“Oh, but I think you’ll like what we have to offer you.” Gesturing for Neo and Mercury to push the cart forward, Emerald stepped aside to show off the crates of Dust they had. “I heard you’ve been running low on Dust in Vale for a while, and I think we might be able to help with that.” 

The receptionist blinked, glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose. “I - you - well yes, let me make a call.” With that, she picked up a scroll, presumably phoning in the bigwig of this branch. Neo internally cheered, flashing Mercury and Oscar a grin. Emerald didn’t move from her spot, standing stock still and with a smile still plastered onto her face. 

  
  


“You’re in luck.” The receptionist said, sounding like this was not, as a matter of fact, a lucky scenario. “You’ll be able to make your sale directly to the house.”

“...What does that mean?” Emerald asked hesitantly. This was not in the script.

The receptionist smiled. “Oh, haven’t you heard?” She asked. 

  
  


“Mr. Schnee is visiting Vale this week.” 

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Whitley Schnee’s office, presumably where the normal head of the Vale branch would sit, was just as cold and uninviting as he was, cold blue walls and black curtain bathing the room in an eerie light. While Emerald’s face hadn’t changed, there was an almost imperceptible crack in her facade, a sliver of nervousness escaping. Behind her, Oscar, Mercury, and Neo all stood in a line in front of their Dust, trying not to panic. 

Neo had dealt with Schnees before. They were cold, arrogant, and always thought they were two steps ahead when they were really three steps behind. Surely the prodigal son of Jacques wouldn’t be any different? 

They were going to have to bank on that.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Schnee.” Emerald said. “My name is Verdant DiAngelo.” And Neo internally snickered at the goofy name Emerald had come up with. “This is my associate, Gustav Maizono.” Oscar waved politely, seemingly trying to be as small as possible. “Oh, and you’ll have to forgive my bodyguards. I was afraid that my Dust might get stolen, and I couldn’t bear to let that happen. Surely you understand.” 

“I do, Ms. DiAngelo.” Whitley replied, cool as ice. He cast a critical eye over the four of them. “And tell me, Ms. DiAngelo where exactly you are from?”

“Vacuo.” Emerald replied back, just as smoothly. “We’re a small-time Dust purifying group - we just happened to stumbled across a rather large sum of Dust, and figured it would be best to let the professionals deal with it.”

Whitley scanned Emerald from head to toe, arching one thin white eyebrow. “...Well you certainly made the right call,” He remarked, and Neo inwardly grumbled at the backhanded insult. “But why Vale? Why not Atlas?”

“Well, after Atlas, Vale is the next best place for Dust. And, after all the dreadful things that happened in Atlas, you must understand my reluctance to go there.” Emerald replied, trying to sound remorseful. “I’m dreadfully sorry about what happened there, by the way. I understand that Atlas was your home.” 

“Thank you for your condolences.” And despite that, Whitley didn’t seem thankful at all. His cold blue eyes turned to the crates in the back. “...Tell me, how much were you aiming to sell this for?” 

“Two hundred and fifty thousand lien.” Emerald answered. “Does that sound reasonable to you?”

Whitley turned back to her, something brewing behind his gaze. “And how well would you say you are versed in Dust?”

“Fairly well.”

“I see.” Whitley leaned back in his chair, frowning to himself. 

“...Mr. Schnee?” Emerald asked after a minute. “Is something wrong-”

  
  


Suddenly, Whitley lunged forward, grabbing Emerald’s wrist. Emerald, too stunned to activate her Semblance, stumbled back, the illusion breaking into a thousand tiny pieces and dissolving around her. Oscar and Mercury shot up, shifting into fighting positions, and Neo backed up, realizing that she had fucked up. 

“I knew it.” Whitley replied smugly. “You aren’t dust salesmen. In fact, I’d take it that you’re not even from Vacuo.” 

“T-That part was true.” Emerald shot back, steadying herself, hands heading towards her guns.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Whitley said mockingly. “One wrong shot, and you’ll blow this whole place to hell.” Gesturing to the crates in the back, his gaze turned to the other three. “You can let your disguises off now.”

Neo opted not to, the three of them not moving a muscle. Emerald glared at Whitley, hands still on the holts of her pistols. 

“How’d you know?” Mercury spat. 

“Oh, it was rather obvious.” Whitley laughed, smugness written all over his face. “For one, no respective Dust salesman would dress like that if they were making an in house call. Heels and dresses catch on fire quite easily.”

Neo internally facepalmed at that. She had just conjured up something resembling all the hoity toity business people back when she had been freeloading at the Schnee manor. But none of them had actually brought their Dust with them. Go figure there would be some handling procedures. 

“And another thing,” Whitley remarked, waving his hand causally, “You obviously haven’t been keeping up with the economy in Vale, so there was no way you could be salespeople.”

“What do you mean by that?” Oscar stammered. 

Whitley smiled at him, more of a leer than anything. “Did you know that those crates alone would have netted you six million lien?”

  
  


Silence. You could hear a pin drop. 

  
  


“...Six million?!” Mercury exclaimed, shock evident all over his face. 

“Yes, it would. But it would seem that you undersold yourself - and I don’t know a single Dust salesman who wouldn’t start at an egregious high price. The disguises were good,” Whitley remarked offhandedly, sitting back down in the oversized armchair. “But really what it came down to was your stupid cover story. Poor planning on your part.”

Neo growled at that, taking a step forward, letting the disguise fall away. Mercury and Oscar protested, but she tuned them out, stomping right up to that smug, smiling bastard. _Listen here,_ she signed with as much intensity as she could muster. _If you knew anything at all, you would know you’re pushing your luck here, kid._

 _  
_  
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Whitley laughed condescending, looking down at her signing with something resembling amusement. “I don’t speak ‘mute and dumb’.”

_That’s it._ Neo signed. _I’m gonna kill him._ Emerald nodded, the four of them moving into a fighting stance -

  
  


“Now, now, hold on.” Whitley interjected, tone going from slimy to serious. “You know this isn’t something you can fight your way out of. Even if you did kill me, you’d just end up getting arrested.”

“Don’t test us, we’re very good at getting away.” Emerald hissed.

Whitley smirked. “From the richest company in all of Remnant?” He laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  
  


Neo hated to admit it, but the kid had a point. She loosened her grip on her umbrella, still glowering at him. _Then what do you want?_ She signed, and Oscar translated. 

“I could turn you in,” Whitley started, taking a seat on the side of his desk. “But I think your services may prove valuable to me.” 

“...What are you saying?” Oscar growled. 

“Do you know why there is a Dust shortage in the first place?” Whitley asked. 

Oscar frowned, brow crinkling. “...Because a lot of it got stolen by that Torchwick guy?” He asked. 

Whitley frowned. “You seem to be out of the loop.” He gloated, relishing in the team’s glares. “In any case, let me catch you up to speed.” Quickly, he pulled up a photo on his scroll, showing it to them. “This is the Vale district warehouse. And as you can see,” He said, pointing to the giant hole in the wall. “Someone’s been raiding it.”

“Stealing your Dust?” Emerald asked. 

“So it would seem.” Whitley sighed in fake sadness. 

“Why should you care?” Oscar piped up. “You’re the CEO of a huge company, you can afford to lose a few boxes.”

Whitley glared at him, tone becoming icier than before. “If I let this slide, it will tell everyone they can just steal from me. And I refuse to be weak.” He hissed, taking the group aback. Whitley then straightened up, clearing his throat. “...What I meant was that it will set a bad example. And you seem to be familiar with the crime rings around here, with your mention of Torchwick, and all.” He powered off his scroll, and leaned back into his chair. “Which is why I want you to find out who’s been doing this.”

  
  


A pause. 

  
  
  


“...Are you serious?” Mercury asked incredulously. “You want us?” 

“If anyone can find a street rat, it’s another street rat.” Whitley snarked. “Plus, it’s not like you have much of a choice in the matter. If you refuse, I’ll simply call the cops. I hear prison gets pretty cold in the fall.”

“And if we accept?” Oscar asked. 

“You’ll get… two weeks, since I’m feeling generous.” Whitley replied. “You find the perpetrators within that time frame, you’ll get your two fifty lien.” 

“Six million.” Emerald butted in.

Whitley shook his head, flashing perfect white teeth in an insincere smile. “You’re in no position to be making bargains.” He pointed out.

“One million then.” Oscar interjected, taking everyone off guard. “That sounds fair, right? You’ll even get your Dust back, too.” 

  
  


Whitley stared at Oscar for a second, analyzing him from head to toe. “...Alright.” He said, sounding reluctant. “One million.”

“Deal.” Oscar stuck out his hand to shake. 

“...No thank you.” Whitley grimaned, sneering at Oscar’s oil stained gloves. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

  
  


“Fine.” And with that, they all started to head out, but not before Oscar, to everyone’s surprise, turned back and said what they were all thinking:

“You’re no better than your dad, you know that?”

  
  


Whitley looked taken aback by that. Oscar glared at him one last time, and behind him, Neo stuck out her tongue. And with that, the door was abruptly slammed in their faces. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This had been her fault. The rest of the team had relied on her to give them enough information to build a convincing cover story, and she had just gone and fucked it all but by not even bothering to research it properly. She had just assumed that she knew everything there was to know, and that Whitley Schnee would be another easy mark.
> 
> She had gotten cocky. And last time she had done that, she had let Roman get killed. And even after all the times she had told herself that she wouldn’t repeat that mistake, she had gone and done it again.
> 
> What a lousy teammate she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for ableism
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/

The ride back to the warehouse was spent in complete silence. 

  
  


Emerald had shotgun, and was busy picking at the lint on the taxi seats. The driver looked like he wanted to object, but decided against it. Mercury sat behind her, face sullen, hands twitching errantly in his trenchcoat pockets. Oscar sat on the other side, looking out the window, face betraying nothing, and Neo was squished in between the two of them, fuming at not only Whitley, but at herself.

This had been her fault. The rest of the team had relied on her to give them enough information to build a convincing cover story, and she had just gone and fucked it all but by not even bothering to research it properly. She had just assumed that she knew everything there was to know, and that Whitley Schnee would be another easy mark.

She had gotten cocky. And last time she had done that, she had let Roman get killed. And even after all the times she had told herself that she wouldn’t repeat that mistake, she had gone and done it again.

What a lousy teammate she was. 

  
  


“Here’s your stop.” The taxi driver opened the doors to the car, and the four of them stepped out. Emerald thanked the driver, handing him his lien, and they were on their way to the warehouse, which was a few blocks down. 

The minute they stepped through the ruined hole in the wall, Emerald buried her head in her hands “I’m sorry.” She muttered, muffled by her palms “I should have known better.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” Oscar piped up, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. 

_If anything,_ Neo signed, rapping her knuckles on the thin metal walls of the warehouse. _It’s mine._

“Look,” Mercury sighed, leaning against the thin metal wall of the warehouse. “Playing the blame game isn’t gonna get us anywhere. All that matters now is that we figure out who’s been stealing rich boy Whitley’s precious Dust.”

“As if he didn’t already have enough.” Emerald mumbled under her breath. 

“Let’s just be glad that Whitley didn’t decide to turn us in for some reason.” Oscar piped up, sitting on the cold stone floor. “And besides, he gave us two weeks. That should be enough time, right?”

The warehouse was silent.

“...Right?” 

“Look.” Mercury sighed, rubbing his temples. “I’m gonna level with you - trying to find out who exactly took the Dust is going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are so many people and gangs who could do that, that I’m not even sure where to begin.”

Oscar’s face fell. “I mean, I could go through a list of people I know.” Mercury backtracked, seeing how despondent everyone looked. “It may not be much, but it’s start.”

Neo brushed past the three of them, stomping up the metal stairs up into her little room that she had made for herself back when she and Roman had first camped out here. Shutting the door behind her, she took in the small sleeping bag in the corner, notes and pictures strewn about like a tornado had swept through. Neo exhaled, letting herself slump to the floor, composure fading. 

This was her fault. And she had to fix it somehow. 

  
  


So, she pulled out her tiny notepad from the pocket of her pants, along with the pen she had tucked behind her ear, and began to brainstorm on the best place to start. _The most obvious thing would be to start with the gangs around here that I was on good terms with,_ Neo thought, sitting down next to the battered desk she had used. _Swanson, Hatter, and maybe Xiong? No, last time I met him he got pissed off at Roman and I for some reason. I don’t remember what it was. But anyways, that’s good groundwork to start with. But who the hell in Vale would steal Dust from the SDC directly? A small time Dust shop yeah, but the biggest company in the world? This couldn’t have been done by just some schmuck with a gun and a ski mask._

_I really don’t know._

_Come to think of it, when was the last time I ate something?_

  
  


_God, I’m tired…_

  
  


And Neo let her head slump onto the wooden desk.

  
  
  
  


* * *

_“This isn’t fair!”_

_She peeks down the stairs to hear her parents fighting - what were they fighting about? “You have no right to keep her locked up like this!”_

_“She’s an embarrassment!”_

_“She’s a Knallen! She was born into this family the same as her siblings!”_

_“She’s a retard! Besides, the only reason you want her to come into the public eye, is because you just want her to be a pianist because you’re too drunk to actually pursue that yourself!”_

_“You’re treating our children like they’re objects!”_

_“Oh, don’t act like you’re any better! You just want to live through them!”_

  
  


_There was a smack, and she drew back, pressing her back against the wall._

_“...You-”_

_A crash, and she ran, ran as fast as she could upstairs, pushing her dresser in front of the door, crashing and shouting ringing through her ears. She runs to hide and then -_

  
  
  
  


_“You’re off tempo.”_

_A ruler slams down a few keys away from her hands, and she looks up from her sheet music to look at her father. “How many times do I have to run this past you until you understand, Mary?” When she simply shrugs, her father growls, jabbing the ruler into the D key, the sound reverberating throughout the large ballroom. “Nod if you understand.” Her hisses through gritted teeth._

_She nods. She’s not a child anymore, even though her parents insist on treating her like one. They assume she can’t hear them, but she can, even if no words come out of her mouth._

_“Good.” Her father says. “Now, start from measure seventeen.” She flips back two pages._

  
  
  


_Page seventy two of ‘The Man With Two Souls’ is the last page she remembers reading before her older brother rips the book out of her hands. “What’cha reading?” He taunts, holding it above his head so she can’t reach. “Looks boring.”_

_She wants to tell him to give it back, but she can’t. So instead, she opts for shoving him over. Her brother falls to the ground with a loud cry, skinning his knee on the wooden table of the library. He screams loudly, and her mother comes running in, asking her brother what’s wrong. She feels strange ringing in her ears, and can’t make out a word until her brother points to where she is, and her mother looks, only to frown._

_“...Bert, I don’t see Mary anywhere.”_

_She’s taken aback by that, as they both stand to look but simply pass her by. She reaches out a hand, only for small cracks to form in the air around her, like glass._

_It was the same glass she had seen at the doctors office. And now, it was masking her._

_She turned the corner back up to her room._

  
  
  
  
  
  


_Roughly pulled by the wrist, her mother reeks of wine. There’s laughter at the party downstairs, as if nothing had happened, but every Knallen knew that wasn’t true._

_“You horrible girl,” Her mother slurs, wine bottle in hand. “We were banking on your performance and you fucked it up. I should have known.” Half laughing, half crying, her mother grabs a handful of her hair. “I should have had Bert perform. Or Michael. Or Julie - you messed it up Mary, this is your fault you broken girl.”_

_Broken girl._

_She thinks back to the glass in the library. The glass in the doctor's office. The shimmering pink and black cracks that formed in it. That some days, when she caught her reflection in the mirror, she could have sworn she saw cracks on her neck, like a broken porcelain doll._

  
  


_So when her mother raised her hand to strike -_

  
  
  
  
  


_“What have you done?!”_

_Mary looks up at her father, staring at her, horrified, eyes darting between her mother’s broken wine bottle in her hand, and then back at her. “What have you done?!”_

  
  


_Broken girl._

_Broken girl._

_Broken girl, broken girl, in pieces on the floor._

  
  


_Staring at the glass she had shoved in her mother’s throat, the blood pooling on the marble steps outside their house, the tire tracks of all the people that had left her sixteenth birthday party, a party of no one she knew - Mary can’t find it in herself to feel guilty._

_She doesn’t feel anything at all._

  
  


_So instead, she does what she was always told to do._

  
  
  


_She looks up at her father, and smiles._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

Neo jolted awake with a start, head pounding. Groaning internally, she sat up, wood below her coming into focus. She had fallen asleep at the table, drooling onto her notepad. 

_Great_ , she thought, sitting up. From the tiny window of the once control room, she could see that the edges of dawn were beginning to creep into the sky, the room filtered a soft pink. 

Neo knew it was pointless to try and go back to sleep, so she stood, rifling through her bag to try and find the teabags, only to remember that Oscar had them. Neo rolled her eyes, zipping the bag up, but not before she caught her reflection in the zipper. 

  
  
  


The stark white roots of her hair were visible. 

  
  


...That sucked. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Neo crept quietly down the rickety metal stairs, careful not to knock over any of the Dust crates. She scanned the main area for any of the other’s bags, but saw nothing. Disappointed, and with a raging headache, she turned to go back up the stairs, only to stop at the sound of boiling water.

Nestled between a few Dust boxes was Oscar, who was currently boiling water even with no visible heat source. Neo rapped her knuckles twice on the metal crates, and he jumped, water sloshing onto his red jacket.

“Oh,” He exhaled. “It’s just you.”

_How are you heating the water up?_ Neo signed back. 

“Magic.” Oscar removed his brown gloves to show his scarred hand was glowing underneath. 

_Ah. I didn’t notice since I didn’t see any glowy stuff_. Neo replied, sitting down next to him. 

“That’s kind of the point of the gloves anyways.” He pointed out, grabbing his bag and pulling out another tea bag and mug. “And before you ask,” He interrupted. “Yes, I do carry mugs with me in case I need them.” 

_I literally wasn’t going to ask about the mugs._ Neo retorted. 

“...I figured you would, since that seems like the kind of thing you would give me the ‘signature Neo look’ for.”

_The what-now?_

“You know-” Oscar made an exaggeratedly judgy expression, nose scrunched up as if he had smelled something bad. “Like this?”

_...You look like you’re having trouble pooping._ Neo remarked. 

“Say that again, and you’re not getting any hot water.” Neo silently chuckled at that, as Oscar grabbed a second water bottle and started heating it up for her.

It was silent for a while, save for the sounds of water bubbling and the slight hum of all the Dust crystals around them.

“...What are you doing up so early?” Oscar asked timidly. 

_Couldn’t sleep._ Neo replied flatly - or as flatly as she could, anyways. 

“Same.”

Another awkward pause. Neo didn’t ask why - she pretty much already knew. The kid had a lot of baggage to lose sleep over. What was her excuse? 

“So… what do you think we should do next?” He asked. “About the Dust.”

_Well, normally I would just say we leave town,_ Neo started, _but something tells me that we can’t do that._

“Yeah…” Oscar sighed, pouring the hot water into the mug. “Vale is kind of our only way to Vacuo, so it’s not like we can just leave.”

_Still, I don’t really know what our game plan is right now._ Neo replied, swirling the teabag around in her mug. _My best guess would be to check back with some of the people I knew around here, but it’s been a while. Who knows if they even remember me._

“How long has it been?” Oscar asked. “Since you were last in Vale?”

_God, I don’t even know,_ Neo remarked, leaning back against one of the metal crates. _A year, maybe? I haven’t really been here since the Fall._

“Ah.” It was somewhat of an unspoken rule in the team to not talk about the Fall of Beacon, so Oscar changed the subject. “Where’d you go afterwards?” He asked. 

_Why are you asking so many questions?_ Neo retorted, arching an eyebrow. 

“Sorry, just… trying to keep the flow of conversation going.” 

_There are better ways to do that then prying, you know._

“Sorry.”

_You’re fine. I’d just rather not talk about it._

“Okay.”

  
  


The two of them lapsed off into silence. 

  
  
  


_What do you think of Vale, anyways?_ Neo signed. 

“Me?” Oscar asked. 

_Yes you._

“Uhhh… it’s okay. It’s really loud. And kinda dirty. And the people here seem kind of surly.”

_So you don’t like it._

“I mean, it’s not as bad as Atlas?” He replied. 

_Yeah, true._ Neo signed, trying to not think about Atlas. _Atlas sucked._

“I mean, I wasn’t there for very long anyways, maybe I just got off on the wrong foot?” Oscar rationalized. 

_No, it’s the worst._

“Fair.”

_Not to mention it’s cold._

“And everyone there is stuck up.”

_And the food is gross._

“And the beds are hard.”

_And Ironwood._

“And Ironwood!”

  
  


“What are you two talking about?” The two of them turned to see Mercury and Emerald emerging out of the backroom they had been sleeping in. 

_We’re shitting on Atlas._ Neo signed. 

“Ah, my favorite pastime.” Mercury remarked, smirking. “Got any more of that tea?”

“And mugs.” Oscar pulled out two more mugs from his bag. 

“You carry those around?” Emerald scoffed.

“Shut it.” 

  
  
  


* * *

After a breakfast of crusty convenience store biscuits and lukewarm tea, the four of them got to business, sitting down in a circle to brainstorm. Neo showed everyone her notes, or what little of them she wrote, and told them the rest, about her plan to start with the gangs she knew and go from there. 

“That sounds about right.” Emerald said when Neo had finished signing her plan. “I mean, it’s not much, but it’s a start.” 

“So, should we split up? We can cover more ground that way.” Oscar asked. 

“No, sending in only one person to do this is practically asking to be mugged or scammed.” Emerald retorted. “We’ll go in groups of two.” 

“Maybe you and Neo should split up? Both of your semblances are good for stealthy getaways.” Mercury suggested. 

Neo nodded. _That sounds like a plan._ She signed. _We should head out now, while rush hour hasn’t started._

“Cool. Text me if you find anything.” And with that, they silently paired off, Mercury going with Emerald (of course) and Neo going with Oscar.

  
  


They hailed a taxi, after spending a few minutes debating on whether or not to use Neo’s semblance so they didn’t have to spend any money, Neo finally getting Oscar off her back by saying that the minute they got the lien from Whitley, the first person they’d pay back was this random taxi driver schmuck. That was a total lie, of course, as she was about ninety nine percent sure he would forget about this by this evening. For someone who had multiple accounts of manslaughter on record, he was quite a stick in the mud. 

  
  


They were dropped off at Sangrine Boulevard, a few blocks away from Sweepers, the arcade that Maddison Hatter could often be found at. 

“And you’re sure she’ll be here?” Oscar mumbled as they stepped inside the dark building, save for the neon lights of the arcade machines. 

_Positive._ Neo signed back. _Her father owns this joint, so she practically lives here._

And sure enough, there she was, red hair tied back under a tacky hat. She turned to look at them, a grin spreading across her face. 

“Well I’ll be.” She said. “Neopolitan, back again!” 

Neo waved a little awkwardly, and Maddison stepped off of the dance pad she was on, swinging around the bar behind it to sit on. _Nice to see you too._ Neo signed. 

Maddison’s brow crinkled, presumably translating what Neo had said, before continuing. “Where have you been anyways? Everyone here thought you died or some shit.”

_Eh. Somewhat._

Maddison cackled at that, before turning to face Oscar. “Who’s the kid? Is that your brother?” She asked, jabbing a red nail in his direction. 

Oscar paled, looking away. “Uh -” 

_He’s a friend._ Neo sighed quickly, kicking Oscar’s shin discreetly to get him to shut up. _His name is Evergreen Wunder._

Maddison was not convinced by this, arching a thin red eyebrow. “...Well,” She started. “It’s nice to meet you, Evergreen Wunder.” Neo subtly cracked a smile at the goofy name she had given him, and Oscar glared at her. “Anyways, any reason you came to see me? Cause I can’t hook you up with my dad right now, he’s out of town.” 

_That’s okay, he probably wouldn’t be too happy to see me anyways._ Neo remarked. 

“Eh, fair.” 

_No, I actually came to ask you about something else._ Neo pulled up her scroll and swiped to the picture of the Schnee Dust Company warehouse, gaping hole in its side. _I heard that this warehouse was broken into a few days ago._

“The SDC?” Maddison whistled. “Daaaamn. Whoever did that had to have been insane. Robbing the SDC is practically suicide.” 

_Well, apparently someone’s insane enough to do it._ Neo replied, shoving her scroll back into her pants. _And I wanted to ask if you knew anything about this._

“Hey, I’m just hearing about this now.” Maddison confessed. “I mean, I know someone around here’s been stealing Dust for a while now, if the prices are any indication.” Neo nodded grimly, and Maddison continued. “But the SDC? If it’s just Dust you want, you could just farm the local ones.” 

“So…” Oscar butted in. “You think someone’s doing this to cause a scene?” 

“Maybe.” Maddison replied. “Or maybe they just really need Dust. But if you were trying to get the attention of the authorities… well, this is a surefire way to do it, I guess.” 

_...You remember the Mistral Huntsman scandal?_ Neo piped up. _Where a bunch of Huntsman and Huntresses were killed after going to investigate small crimes? Isn’t this like, eerily similar to that?_

“That’s a good point, actually.” Maddison remarked. “Do you know if any Huntsman have been put on the case?”

“Not that we know of.” Oscar replied. 

“Hm.” Maddison turned away. “Well, we can put on our tinfoil hats all we want, but that doesn’t really change the fact that I’m just as in the dark as you are.”

_Alright. Thanks anyways._ Neo and Oscar turned to go, but Maddison slid in front of them. 

“Hold on.” She said. “You should go talk to Toad. I mean, me and my dad are just smugglers, but he’s an information broker. He’d probably know a lot more about this than I do.” 

“...What kind of a name is Toad?” Oscar muttered, but Neo ignored him. 

_Is he around town?_ She signed. 

“Yeah. Up West Broad, apartment four thirteen. You can’t miss it.” Maddison moved out of their way, and they walked to the door. “Glad to see you!” She called out. Neo flashed her a thumbs up. 

  
  
  


* * *

And thus began their wild goose chase around town. All day, the two of them were redirected to person after person, trying their best to get information from people, to no avail. They were sent from Sweeper’s to Toad, who mentioned that the Dust robberies might not be by the same people, and then sent to Swanson, who told them that at the beginning most of the Dust was stolen by him, but this robbery was not. After that, they went to Alsan, to Rembo, to Yaga (who chased them out with a broom) etcetera, etcetera. 

  
  


It was about six when the duo met back up with Mercury and Emerald, the latter pair of which looked just as tired as Neo felt. 

“How’d it go?” Oscar asked. 

“Bust.” Mercury sighed, flopping onto the dirty public bench. While Neo would normally never do that, so her white coat could stay clean, her feet ached so much that she flopped down on the dirty bench as well. 

“Most places we went to kicked us out, and the places that did let us in, a good chunk of the guys just wanted to flirt with me, which is gross, and also not helpful.” Emerald remarked, leaning against the wall and twirling a long strand of green hair around her finger. “So we got pretty much nothing.”

“We did a bit better.” Oscar remarked. “I mean, it’s not much, but it’s something.”

After explaining what they had learned, the four of them slipped into silence, everyone’s thoughts in very different places. Neo was deliberating the connecting thread between the secret thief and Swanson, Oscar was wondering how bad this was going to be, Emerald was pondering an escape plan if things went south, and Mercury?

Well, Mercury was hungry. He was thinking about burgers.

“This is going nowhere…” Emerald groaned, head in her hands. 

“I mean, we still have thirteen days.” Oscar pointed out, just in time for his scroll to buzz, along with everyone else's. They took it out, to see a text from an unknown number. 

  
  
  


**Unknown Number:** This is Whitley Schnee.

  
  


“Huh?!” Mercury exclaimed “How’d he get our numbers?” 

“He probably bribed the local scroll company or something.” Emera;d groaned. “They track all of our data, it probably wasn’t hard.” Their phones buzzed again, and their attentioned turned back to it.

  
  


**Unknown Number:** There has been another break in.

**Unknown Number:** _JPEG.Hole_

  
  
  


The picture he attached was of another warehouse, with a gaping hole next to it, a few trucks parked outside. Oscar gasped, neo arching her eyebrows in surprise. So soon? This was getting ridiculous. 

  
  


**Unknown Number:** The deadline must change. 

**Unknown Number:** You have one week.

  
  
  


“ONE WEEK?!” The four of them exclaimed. Neo mashed out an angry reply, only to get a 404 error message. He disconnected the number. She signed, teeth gritted.

“Dammit!” Mercury growled, kicking the ground. “How are we supposed to -”

  
  


They were cut off by a truck rushing past them, kicking water up from the curb and splashing it in their faces. The four of them sputtered, Neo about to sign a few choice words at it, when Emerald suddenly took off after it.

“Em?!” Mercury exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Check the picture!” She called over her shoulder, heels clacking against the pavement. “This is one of the trucks in the picture!”

“How do you know that?” Oscar shouted, the three of them chasing after her. 

“It has the same license plate! I think the thief might have taken off in this truck!” She shouted. “We gotta follow it!”

“How did you even remember that?!”

“I have a photographic memory.”

“No time for that now!” Mercury cut in. “Follow that truck!”

  
  
  
  


* * *

They were so busy running, that they didn’t even see the white limo parked in the corner, icy blue eyes glaring out from the inside. 

The limo turned, and began to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one took so long. school has been kicking my butt!! And i know this backstory is kinda similar to Cinders, but I came up with it before that episode came out, sue me. 
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Where do you think this is going?” Oscar yelled over the sound of tires on pavement.
> 
> “No idea!” Mercury shot back. “Could be anywhere!” A pothole caused the truck to tip slightly, sending the four of them careening to the side, Neo just barely managing to hang on. “Maybe another warehouse of sorts?”
> 
> “Or a cave?” Emerald replied, but was cut off by the truck lurching to a sudden halt, Mercury stumbling forward and falling on his face, Neo and Oscar being tossed roughly out of the umbrella. “Or maybe here.” Emerald deadpanned, climbing off of Mercury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for how long this took. if you dont know, ive started my own original novel and thats been eating up a lot of my time, as well as my classes. 
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q

When the truck got off the main roads, Neo knew they were fucked.

Keeping up with a car was hard enough. Keeping up with a car stealthily was harder. Keeping up with a car in heels was nearly impossible. 

Keeping up with a car stealthily in heels in the woods? Yeah, no dice. Neo, for what wasn’t the first time in her life, kicked off her heels, the offending shoes flying somewhere into the woods. 

“What, want me to carry you?!” Mercury sarcastically remarked, or as sarcastically as he could between all of his wheezing. And Mercury was doing better than the rest of them. Oscar was practically doubled over on himself, Emerald’s face was slowly turning from red to purple, and Neo felt like she was gonna be sick. 

There was no way they were going to catch up, much less even be able to run in a few minutes. Neo frantically looked around for something, anything they could use. 

_Tree - truck - bumper - a rock? No, what would that do? Okay,_ **_think_ ** _. Tree - truck - bumper - bumper-!_

Neo grabbed Thief’s Respite out of Emerald’s hands, the latter giving an indignant squawk. Closing one eye and squinting, Neo lined up the shot and fired, chain rattling across the street and latching onto the truck’s bumper. Opening Hush, Neo turned it so that the handle was facing up, quickly swinging her legs in so that it would pull her along, and gesturing for the others to hop into her makeshift inner tube. Oscar complied, however Emerald shot her other gun onto the bumper as well, handing Thief’s Respite to Mercury and climbing onto his shoulders, before clicking a button on his metal legs-

  
  


Wheels shot out.

  
  


His feet now were like mini roller skates.

  
  
  


“Oh… yeah… I forgot… that was… a function.” Mercury wheezed awkwardly. Neo stuck her tongue out at him, but was jerked forward abruptly, keeping a steady hand on the gun and the other on her umbrella’s handle.

“Quick… quick thinking!” Emerald heaved. Neo flashed Emerald her trademark smirk in response, and Emerald looked away, rolling her eyes. 

“Where do you think this is going?” Oscar yelled over the sound of tires on pavement.

“No idea!” Mercury shot back. “Could be anywhere!” A pothole caused the truck to tip slightly, sending the four of them careening to the side, Neo just barely managing to hang on. “Maybe another warehouse of sorts?”

“Or a cave?” Emerald replied, but was cut off by the truck lurching to a sudden halt, Mercury stumbling forward and falling on his face, Neo and Oscar being tossed roughly out of the umbrella. “Or maybe here.” Emerald deadpanned, climbing off of Mercury. 

The sound of a truck door opening made the group jump, and Emerald and Neo quickly masked the group, Neo making them look like tiny rocks, and Emerald strengthening that illusion, as well as muting any sound they made. Neo and Emerald were a pretty deadly combo, if she did say so herself. 

The guys who had been driving the truck were two burly men, not unlike the henchmen Junior used to cart around with him everywhere he went. They wore Schnee Dust Company overalls, like the ones the workers in their factories wore, but anyone familiar with fabric could tell that their overalls were not real denim, a cheap knockoff of the actual uniforms.

But that wasn’t important right now. What _was_ important was the Dust they were starting to load out of the truck, back doors sliding open with a rusty creak. Oscar visibly flinched, and Mercury started to take a step forward, only for Emerald to put a hand on his chest to get him to stop. 

_Those are the stolen Dust crates, yeah?_ Mercury, being unable to make any noise in fear of being caught, signed. 

_Yeah,_ Neo signed back. _These guys are obviously in on it. Those are counterfeit uniforms._

_Total figures._ Oscar retorted, before doubling back. _And how could you even tell?_

_The overalls that the workers usually wear are made of denim._ Neo explained. _They’re wearing fake denim - like the sort of cheap stuff you’d see in jeggings._

_Typical that you’d know that._ Emerald snarked. 

Neo was about to sign something very rude and inappropriate, when the truck door was shut, causing them to jump. As the last crates of Dust were loaded into the wheelbarrow, Mercury gestured to follow them, and the others crept closely behind.

For once, Neo was glad she had ditched her (very expensive) shoes, because sneaking around in heels was never the easiest thing, much less after your calf muscles have been absolutely destroyed. The pavement under her feet was cracked and bumpy, and she could almost feel the bits of stone and splinters of wood being embedded into the soles of her feet, but better that than tripping in heels and giving away their location. 

As they crept into the warehouse, slinking in the shadows, Neo took note of how many people were there. There were about twenty lackeys in total, each one outfitted with the same fake Schnee Dust Company uniform. Various stolen Dust crates were stacked on top of each other, being loaded into a Vale airship that had been painted jet black. Standing in the loading zone, gesturing wildly at the men to hurry up, was a shorter woman with jet black hair, short red dress contrasting heavily with her olive skin. 

_Who’s that?_ Oscar signed. 

_...I have no idea._ Neo replied. _Never seen her before._

“Alright you worthless slags, hurry up!” Her thick accent cut through the silence, causing the four of them to jump. “Put your back into it, I’ve seen babies with more muscle than you!”

_...Not exactly the nicest person around, huh._ Mercury deadpanned. 

_Whatever. Let’s just go._ Emerald replied, before silently hoisting herself up onto the balcony, the rest of them following suit. Creeping around the corner, the four of them slowly made their way to the other side of the room, targets set on the airship.

A shrill yelp stopped the team in their tracks, coming from the outside. It sounded like a boy.

_Who-_ Oscar blinked. “Wait, is that -”

“Oh Amo?” A sing-song voice sounded out from the outside. 

The woman swiveled on her sharp heels, red eyes narrowing. “Didn’t I specifically tell you to stay out of my way?” 

The person who had called for Amo skulked in, tugging someone by the elbow, and Neo’s heart dropped.

“But I was specifically instructed to help you!” Tyrian Callows said with mock offense in his voice. “Her Grace gave me a task and I would loathe not to complete it!” He threw his captive onto the floor, and the four of them caught a quick glimpse of his face. 

“Fuck.” Oscar mouthed. Emerald and Mercury sent each other frantic glances. They had no idea Tyrian was here - last they had heard, he was in Vacuo. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was -

“Found the other one.” Two of them men dragged in an unconscious man, dressed in a chauffeur uniform. “The car was parked a few blocks down.”

“Not the most inconspicuous sort, are you?” Amo laughed, pushing the head of Whitley Schnee back down to the floor with her boot. “I bet you thought you could play junior detective, hmm?” 

“You… won’t get away with this-” Whitley wheezed with as much gusto as he could muster, which wasn’t much. 

“Oh, I doubt we will. But that’s the fun part.” Amo turned to the two men, who had the driver captive. “Hold him up.” They did, and she took out her weapon, a large axe extending from the end.

Whitley’s eyes widened. “Wait -”

_SWISH!_

  
  


One clean swing was all it took, lifeless body being thrown onto the ground like trash. Whitley stumbled back, blue eyes wide. It then occurred to Neo that this was probably the closest he had ever been to death in his life. 

“Waste of my time.” Amo sneered, before turning back to Tyrian. “You finish this and run back to Salem. I’ve got other things to do.” With a wave to her men, the last crate was loaded, and she swung into the driver's seat of the airship, revving the engine. 

The team could only watch in horror as their one shot of solid evidence was flown away, blending into the black sky. 

  
  


The empty warehouse was silent, almost defaningly so. Whitley’s eyes still hadn’t moved from the corpse that was his driver, chest heaving with every frantic breath he took. 

“The prince of the SDC, the son of Mr. Schnee!” Tyrian exclaimed with glee. “What an honor this is.”

“...You’re insane.” Whitley breathed. 

“Now now, none of that talk.” Tyrian laughed, pacing around in a circle. “After all, you do realize what situation you’re in?”

“What do you want?” Whitley cried out, hands shaking. “Money? Dust? I can give you that, just please let me go -” 

Tyrian’s face turned dark, and in one swift motion, he grabbed Whitley by the neck, hoisting him up. Whitley choked, face red, and he scrabbled desperately at the iron grip holding him up, to no avail. 

“Money? Dust? Is that all you think I am?” Tyrian hisseed, over what sounded like glass cracking, voice full of venom. “Do you take me as a petty thief? As someone who can be bought out by mere earthly treasures?”

“I- I did-”

“My heart and soul belong only to our goddess,” Tyrian crooned, and Whitley, in between his struggles for air, fixed him with a confused look. “I desire one thing, and one thing only - her approval.”

“Th- I can’t-”

Tyrian’s face turned dark with sadistic glee, an idea popping into his head.

“Perhaps,” He mused, dropping Whitley onto the cold stone floor. Whitley coughed and wheezed, fingers clawing at cold hard tile in an attempt to gain purchase. “I could bring you to her.”

No, Neo wants to cry out. She knew jack shit about this kid, hell, she didn’t even like him, but no one should be subjected to Salem. She knew what it did to a person.

“Yes… having the entire SDC under her command would surely bring me favor in her eyes.” He continued. “She would favor me above all others!”

“What… what are you talking about?!” Whitley sputtered. 

Tyrian smiled sinisterly, hauling Whitley up roughly by the arm. “It seems you and I are going to be heading on a little road trip.”

  
  
  


Neo was about to jump in and interfere, but surprisingly she wasn’t the first to do it.

A burst of bright red magic shot out, shattering Neo’s illusion into a thousand tiny pieces. Tyrian turned around too late, beam slamming into his shoulder and causing him to cry out, stumbling back, aura flickering.

Oscar, Kalte Ralche pointed in Tyrian’s direction, stepped out of the shadows. 

“Leave. Him. Alone.” He hissed. 

  
  


Tyrian, despite being shot with a high intensity beam of pure magic, didn’t look pained at all. In fact, a manic grin spread across his face. 

“The prodigal son of Salem himself!” He cackled. “He shows himself at last!”

“You heard him.” Mercury growled, the rest of them emerging as well. “Make one more move, and you’ll regret it.” 

Tyrian’s yellow eyes flitted from one of them to the next, before finally landing on Whitley. “So you’ve sided yourself with gutter trash and street rats now, hmm?” He sneered. “I thought the Schnees were better than that!”

The phrasing sounds so familiar to Neo. 

“You’re nothing but gutter trash. You bring us shame.”

Fire boiled in her gut, and she lunged without thinking, ignoring the other’s cries. Hush pulled back, silver tip gleaming in the moonlight, she shot down, aiming right at the stupid bastards heart -

Tyrian bent over backwards, as if his spine was made of putty, Neo’s lunge sailing harmlessly over him. “A good try,” He cackled, before kicking her feet out from under her. Neo sprung back, recovering almost immediately. Tryian lunged now, and she opened Hush to push him back, only for Tyrian to grab the sides of her umbrella, ignoring the sharp metal cutting into his palms, and use it to fling her backwards. Neo slammed into the wall, landing on her bare feet and silently crying out. 

Tryian turned just in time to catch Mercury, lunging at him. “Leave her ALONE!” Mercury cried out, kick flipping backwards and launching out a volley of bullets Tyrian’s way. He lunged past them easily, pulling out his twin blades, and parrying each kick with a flick of his wrists. Emerald threw the blade of Thief’s Respite, chain whistling in the wind and catching one of Tyrian’s hands just as he was about to parry another blow. 

_BAM!_

Tyrian stumbled back, covering his face, Mercury having landed a direct hit on his nose. Tyrian growled, using the chain wrapped around his wrists and yanking it forward, sending Emerald flying straight into Mercury. 

“Don’t think I don’t see you, Oscar Pine!” Tyrian shot three bullets out at Oscar, who was trying to stealthily get Whitley away. Oscar shot out a shimmering shield of magic, the effort causing him to recoil backwards a bit, face contorting in pain. “You won’t be getting away so easily this time!”

Neo gritted her teeth, dashing forward again. Tyrian lunged, blades slicing through her - only for her to collapse into shards, feeling her semblance take her behind Tyrian. She grabbed his waist, yanking him backwards for a suplex, only to stumble back when metal hits metal, Tyrian’s metal stinger thrashing wildly in an attempt to escape. Neo signaled Oscar, who activated his sword’s whip form, grabbing Tyrian’s leg so that Neo could land a solid hit.

Train dodged once again, darting around the room. Neo growled, eyes following his every movement -

“BEHIND YOU!” 

She turned, just in time to see his hands, pulsating a sick shade of purple, reach out and grab her throat, tearing through her aura in one hit. Neo felt like her stomach was caving in, silently screaming from the pain of having her soul ripped in two. 

“NEO!” Emerald launched a volley of shots in Tyrian’s direction, trying to use her semblance to distract him, making him think there were seven of her. Tyrian however with lightning speed, shot up to the real one, and in one clean slice, cut through her aura as well. Mercury screamed, shooting forward with blind rage. Neo weakly raised a hand to get him to stop, only for Tyrian to catch him by the foot and throw him into the ceiling, a direct hit causing his aura to flicker and die as well. 

Oscar, who was already weak, tried to fire some shots, only for Tyrian to shoot behind him and -

Oscar screamed, a sound Neo never wanted to hear again. Side coated in black, red, and sickly, venomous purple, he fell to the ground, convulsing with pain.

“OSCAR!” Emerald screamed, scrambling to run to his side, only for a warning shot to zip past her skull, leaving a thin line of red in its wake. 

“Ah-ah-ah, I don’t think so.” Tyrian smirked, sauntering over to Mercury, holding his blade over his chest. “For a group who defied our goddess, you aren’t very strong.”

Neo wanted to argue, but couldn’t. They were too weak, and their teamwork was atrocious. The four of them were so dead. 

“St-stop.”

Everyone turned. 

“L-leave them alone.” Whitley hoisted a lead iron pipe that had fallen from the ceiling up, arms straining under the weight. 

“...Or?’ Tyrian asked.

“Or I’ll - make you.” Whitley shot back. The gesture would have been less disheartening if Whitley’s knees weren’t shaking and if he - you know - actually knew how to fight. 

“A kind gesture.” Train smirked, kicking Mercury to the side, the boy letting out a pained wheeze. “But do you really think you can fight -”

  
  


Tyrian was then greeted with a pipe being hurled directly into his face. 

  
  


He stumbled back, howling. Whitley, now defenseless, started to back up. “W-why didn’t he go down?” He whispered, more to himself than anyone else. 

“His...aura is up… you moron-” Oscar huffed. Whitley paled at that. 

Tyrian staggered up, face an unseemly shade of purple, nose and cheekbone bruised. “A - clever try, boy.” Tyrian hissed. “But now, I think I’ll just kill you instead.”

Emerald, the most lucid out of the four, tried to stop Tyrian, grabbing him by the boot. Tryian snarled, kicking her away, advancing towards Whitley, who was frozen in fear.

“Whitley, move!” Neo wanted to shout, but felt the words catch in her throat like they always did. She settled for waving her arms -

Tyrian kicked the boy in the chest, raising his blade -

Emerald cried out -

  
  


_SHING!_

  
  
  


A clean cut, all the way through the arm. Neo’s mouth was agape, and behind her, she could hear Oscar gagging, although whether that was from the poison or what he had seen, she didn’t know. Tyrain smiled, triumphant.

_Hold on._

Why was Whitley still conscious?

Why was Tyrian looking down at his arm with horror?

Where was the blood?

  
  


Neo looked down at the arm as well, eye widening as she saw sparking gemstones where the wound should be. 

Dust crystals, to be exact.

  
  


Dust crystals that were lighting up. 

Tyrian realized what was happening too late. 

“GET DOWN!” Whitley yelled, just as the arm made of Dust lit up blue and exploded, the warehouse engulfed in white light, and Neo’s vision faded to black. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


_It’s cold in the wilderness, the wilderness outside of Atlas chilling her to her bones._

_She looks up, seeing only trees. After the train ride to Argus, fleeing the scene of the crime in her stained party dress, and running wherever her feet would take her, she can’t find it in herself to fight anymore._

_The cold isn’t so bad. Maybe she can take a nap -_

_But she fights the urge, knowing that if she falls asleep, she’s not waking up. She had made it so far, just gotten out of that hell hole she had lived in her whole life. She was NOT dying here._

_There’s howling in the distance. Wolves, perhaps. Maybe Grimm -_

  
  


_Distantly, she can hear screeching._

_That’s definitely Grimm._

  
  


_A speck of orange cuts through the torrent of white. As it gets closer, she thinks that it may be the gods, sending someone to get her and take her to wherever she would go next._

_But as the figure gets closer, she sees that it’s a boy._

_A teenage boy. A freezing teenage boy._

_His hair is orange, tips frosted with snow. Green eyes are sunken into his face, and in one gloved hand, he clutches a cane, dripping with the black blood of Grimm._

_He looks down at her._

_She looks up at him._

_“Holy shit,” He breathes. “Are you - you’ve got to be freezing in that.”_

_She nods._

_“Do you - fuck, hang on.” He shimmies off his coat, handing it to her. It does a little to stave off the coat, smelling like soot and fertilizer. “It kinda smells? Sorry about that, I live - I lived on a farm that’s kinda close by. This was my dads.”_

_He looks tired. She wants to tell him that._

_“...You’re awfully quiet.”_

_She blinks._

_“Can you… not talk?”_

_She nods._

_“Oh.” He shuffles awkwardly in place, scuffed boots kicking up snow. “That sucks.”_

_She shrugs._

_“Hey, I’m actually, uh, heading the other way? To Argus.” He starts. “You wanna come with?”_

  
  


_She had just come from Argus. They were probably looking for her._

_But then again, she probably shouldn’t stay out in this blizzard._

_So she nods._

_“Cool.” He helps her up, slinging an arm around her shoulder. “We’ll get help, don’t worry.” He flashes her a white smile, whiter than a commoner should have, and she can’t help but smile back. “I’m Roman. Roman Bruns-Torchwick. Roman Torchwick.”_

_That isn’t his real name, that’s obvious in itself. But she doesn’t really mind. If he can change his name to something new, maybe she can too._

_It suits him better than whatever he had before, she decides._

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Neo’s eyes slowly crack open, stinging from soot and dust. She blinked quickly, sitting up in the rubble and looking around. 

Tyrian was nowhere in sight, his gray coat laying in tatters on the floor. The sleeve has a few patches of blood on it.

A dusty head of hair poked out the rubble next to her, and she jumped back in surprise. “Is everyone okay?!” Emerald cried out. 

Mercury climbed out of the ruins of the staircase he had been trapped under. “Still alive.” He huffed.

“Where’s Oscar?” Emerald scrambled to her feet, only for Oscar to crawl out of the rubble. “Holy shit, hang on!” She rushed over to him, Neo and Mercury following suit. “Is your - are you poisoned?”

“...” Oscar gingerly touches his wound, quickly webbing over with black and fading into scars. (That never gets any less gross everytime Neo sees it.) “I don’t think so. The venom probably needs blood to work and… well like, you know.”

“Holy _shit_ I have never been happier Salem messed with your internal organs.” Mercury huffed, saying what everyone else was thinking. 

The rubble shifted, and the four of them turned. 

Whitley lay in the rubble, staring blankly up at the sky, face cracked and chipped like a porcelain doll, arm missing. The blue Dust underneath his skin sparkled in the moonlight, and Neo inhaled. 

It was mesmerizing. 

“...Whitley?” Emerald said after a moment of silence. “Are you… okay?”

“What happened to your face?” Mercury interjected. 

  
  


He didn’t respond, still looking up at the sky. 

  
  


“...Whitley?”

“You can go ahead and be disgusted. I don’t care.” Whitley said, sitting up, chips and pieces of him cracking and flaking off. 

“...Why would we be disgusted?” Oscar asked.

“LOOK AT ME!” Whitley snapped, causing the four of them to jerk back. “I’m a freak of nature! I don’t even know if this is a semblance of some kind of fucked up Faunus mutation or - or…” Whitley choked back what sounded like a sob. “...Don’t look at me.” He mumbled.

There’s a moment of silence. 

  
  


Neo understood. In some weird way, she got it. Maybe that’s why she had never seen him in the news, or the talk of why the Schnee’s third son was so mysterious and reclusive. 

Being hid away by your family because of something you couldn’t control.

Neo may have thought Whitley was a prat, but in that moment, she understood. 

So she placed a hand on his shoulder, skin cool under her touch.

“...What do you want?” Whitley mumbled. 

_It’s okay,_ she wanted to say. _I understand._

  
  


But she can’t, so she settles for nodding. 

  
  


And Whitley understood what she was trying to say. He shuddered once, twice, metallic tears leaking out of his eyes and washing streaks of the pale skin colored powder away. Neo didn’t let go of his shoulder as he curled in on himself, quietly sobbing just a little bit. The other three were respectfully silent, letting Whitley get it all out.

“Does anyone else know?” Emerald asked when Whitley was finished.

“N-No.” He sniffed, wiping his eyes. 

“Not even your sisters?” Mercury remarked. 

“Just my dad and mom. And you know what happened to them.”

Jail and a Grimm attack during the siege on Atlas. A siege the four of them had helped with. 

Neo looked away in guilt, and Emerald awkwardly twirled a strand of hair. “Well - we won’t tell a soul.” Oscar butted in. “I swear.” Fixing them a look, Oscar gestured for the other three to nod in agreement. 

“I -'' Whitley inhales. “...Thank you.”

“...So if we’re cool now, can we have our money?” Mercury rudely pointed out, before Neo jabbed him in his ribs. “Oof - sorry, just wondering.”

“...No.” 

The four of them jerk back. “No?!”

“However -” Whitley interjected. “Maybe I can arrange a ride to Vacuo instead. How does that sound?” 

Mercury looks like he wanted to interject, but Neo stops him, flashing Whitley a thumbs up. 

“Cool.” He stood, legs shaking. “I’m… gonna call Klein.” He headed back in the direction of his car, stumbling all the way. 

  
  


Neo watched him leave, blue figure receding into the distance.

“So… can he like, blow himself up too?” Emerald asked to no one in particular. “Because that was Dust in his arm.”

“Maybe it was because Tyrian cut it off? Too much force can cause a reaction.” Mercury rebutted.

The two of them launched into a pointless debate, Oscar rolling his eyes as they all stumbled to their feet, bruised, battered, but alive. 

And despite the ridiculous night they had, the absurd things they had discovered, Neo smiled, a real smile.

“You guys are pretty great.” She wanted to say.

The words stick in her throat, but it felt less impenetrable then it did before. 

Maybe one day, the words would come out, even if not today.

So, she settles for getting up, and following the rest of the team down the hill, and to wherever life would take them next.

And for the first time since Roman had died, she didn’t feel alone anymore.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. you might be wondering about whitley's semblence/ability.
> 
> well, you see, its a seperate au that ive been thinking about for a while, and it kinda started to bleed into this one. the idea came from his own personality, being a seemingly unbreakable person, but shattering under pressure very easily. whether its a semblence or some kind of mutation is up to you, although i may expand on the idea more in future chapters. ;) Let me know what you think and how I can improve the idea!
> 
> more about it here:https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/post/623642422782623744/i-think-itd-be-really-cool-if-whitley-had-a
> 
> also, the lady named amo? yeah, well this is set after omen defected, and lets just say salem has gotten some new henchmen while they've been away. more on that some other time!

**Author's Note:**

> my fave interpritation of neo is that she is just as much of a chaotic gremlin as the rest of the team, she just hides it better.
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q


End file.
